The speaker of Afghanistan's parliament, Mir Rahman Rahmani, this week has participated at the Council of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Organizations on Afghanistan over the security situation in northern provinces, the Council of the Parliamentary Assembly said in a statement.
“Due to the deteriorating security situation near the southern borders of the Republic of Tajikistan, a CSTO Members State, the Council of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization: Express its concerns regarding the high level of combat activity in Afghanistan, particularly in its northern provinces, amid the withdrawal of foreign military presence,” the statement said.
It also called on the Afghan government and the Taliban “to cease violence to ensure favorable conditions for advancing the peace processes and establishing Afghanistan as an independent and neutral state.”
The council strongly condemned “terrorist attacks in Afghanistan against civilians and stresses that the activities of Daesh and other international terrorist groups constitute a key instability component in Afghanistan.”
It also expressed concerns regarding “the extremely high level of drug production in Afghanistan, being a major source of income for terrorist groups in Afghanistan, and calls on the authorities of Afghanistan, including the Afghan National Assembly, to increase their efforts to combat this scourge.”
The council called on the international community, including national parliaments and international parliamentary organizations, to increase humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan to prevent Afghan refugees' flow into neighboring countries.
The council has expressed its commitment to support through parliamentary diplomacy the Afghan National Assembly, Afghan ethnic groups, and political forces, including the Taliban to advance the reconciliation process as soon as possible.
The council reaffirmed its readiness to contribute to the improvement and harmonization of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan legislation in combating terrorism and illegal drug trafficking, drawing on the lawmaking experience accumulated by the Assembly, including the developed model laws and recommendations.